Spring cleaning isn’t just for your closets and cupboards! Doing a thorough clean-up of your landscape every spring is important—after all, patio season is about to begin! Plus, it’s an opportunity to go through your yard and identify any problem areas that need attention.
Add These Outdoor Tasks to Your Spring Clean-Up Chore List
Grab your waterproof boots, garden gloves, and Bluetooth speaker, pick a good musical motivation playlist, and let’s tackle this spring landscape chore list!
Dethatch and Aerate the Lawn
After a snowy winter, grass can get pretty matted, and the soil may be compacted. To dethatch your lawn, run a rake through the grass to tear up the tangles. Now it will be able to grow lush and thick. While you have the rake, this is a good opportunity to clear any sticks or debris lying around.
To aerate the lawn, use a spike aerator or plug aerator to make holes in the soil, introducing oxygen and loosening the ground. These holes will allow moisture to drain properly so that the roots of your lawn and garden plants won’t sit in stagnant water and develop mold. Good drainage is essential for healthy spring growth!
Prune Winter Damage
If any of your shrubs or trees sustained damage over the winter, trim them off with sterilized shears. Be mindful about pruning healthy growth on your landscape plants to reshape them—some late-blooming plants like to be pruned in spring, but if you prune your spring-blooming plants, you’ll lose all those nice flower buds.
Replace Old Mulch
Mulch naturally breaks down over time, which is great for your soil, but it can start to look a bit funky in the spring after the snow melts. Gently clean it out with a rake—be careful not to damage your garden plants in the process—and spread a fresh layer. We have plenty of mulch here at Stephen’s Landscaping Garden Center; if you need help finding a good color match, you’re welcome to show us a picture of what you’re looking for, and we can get you the perfect product.
Freshen Up Your River Rock
River rock is a more long-term alternative to mulch, but it can still break down over time. If the rocks in your landscape still have some life, you can wash them with the hose on a spray setting. If it’s looking a bit worse for wear this spring, you can replace it with a fresh batch!
Power Wash the Hardscapes
Power washing the patio, pavers, and driveway is an excellent opportunity to survey the whole area and see if there is any damage you’ll need to fix, spots that need touch-ups, or materials that need replacing. If there are any repair jobs you aren’t confident you can pull off by yourself, bring in a picture of the project to our garden center, and we’ll help you figure out a game plan.
Keep an Eye Out for Pests or Fungus
Dealing with pest and fungus problems in the spring will be much easier than tackling them in the summer once they’ve gotten considerably worse! Keep an eye out for these signs in your lawn or garden plants:
- Discoloration
- Cottony coating
- Visible bite marks in foliage
- Dead patches or rings in the grass
Depending on the issue, you may be able to use an all-natural, organic solution, but sometimes severe issues may require chemical fungicides or insecticides. Ask our experts for advice if you’re unsure of how to proceed.
Cut Back Your Perennials
We recommend cutting back old plant material from your garden perennials to a few inches above the ground; this will help allow for a new, healthy flush of spring growth, uninhibited by the leftovers from last year. If there are no signs of disease or fungus in the trimmings, you can toss them in the compost bin.
If you want to go beyond just a simple spring clean-up in 2022 and would like to do a significant landscape redesign and rejuvenation, you know who to call; we can help you choose the perfect plants for your garden designs and projects! Visit Stephen’s Landscaping Garden Center to explore your options for sprucing up your outdoor space. Follow us on Facebook or Instagram for updates and featured products.